


Final Fall of the Pale Lady (Full Story Outline)

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Other, for an incomplete fic, outline, that's likeliness of completion has fallen to a nearly non existent percentage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-19 01:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22736470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: an outline for my incomplete wip,Final Fall of the Pale Lady, which would have told the story of a potential Morgana redemption arc, in case anyone wants to know how it would have gone
Relationships: Barbara Lake & Morgana | Pale Lady
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Final Fall of the Pale Lady (Full Story Outline)

**Author's Note:**

> Recently it's occurred to me that, what I thought was a couple week long obsession with a different show during its airing, has turned into a flat-out main fandom jump. Because of that, I feel like the chances of me ever returning to Pale Lady and finishing it have dropped to lower than zero. However, once upon a time, I did outline the entire fic, so I'm presenting that info now in the event anyone wants closure for it.
> 
> *Some things got changed around when I wrote the first 3 chapters, but overall the story would have followed the same arc.
> 
> (if I'm being completely honest, part of the reason I altered how I went about the first chapters was because of fandom perspective shift toward Morgana, and Merlin. There seemed to be a ton of growing love for the former and hatred for the later. I grew concerned that this fic would be seen as trying to excuse Morgana's canon actions instead of being an interesting character study, as it was intended. Long story short, that changed how I went about trying to portray Morgana as a character and eventually constant internal turmoil led to my enthusiasm for writing the fic fading).
> 
> [The fic itself is here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17324891/chapters/40756154)

Chapter 1 (Scenes 1-2):

  * Morgana falls from the Shadow Realm and stumbles around until she’s found by Barbara, who takes her back to her house and treats her wounds.
  * The process of Morgana healing initially (where she drifts in and out of consciousness).
  * Ends with Morgana coming to and realizing she’s in a lot better shape than she started out.



* * *

Chapter 2 (Scenes 3-4)

  * Barbara reveals to Morgana that she’s healed her and she’s welcome to stay with her as long as she wants.Morgana is not her prisoner (Morgana doesn’t really believe that).
  * Morgana decides to stay (or just not leave the basement — it’s safe here and she doesn’t have magic to protect herself).However, she gets bored after a while and starts to poke around Barbara’s art supplies.
  * Morgana starts to paint, but her left hand bothers her (without magic her prosthetic can’t function properly).



* * *

Chapter 3 (Scenes 5-6)

  * Opens with Barbara and Morgana in the basement together, as Morgana has warmed up to her presence.
  * Barbara offers Morgana the possibility of coming upstairs with her for lunch, but Morgana refuses.She still doesn’t trust Barbara and the basement is her safe space.Thus, Barbara brings lunch down to Morgana.
  * Barbara also comments on Morgana’s left hand, but Morgana refuses to let her near it.



* * *

Chapter 4 (Scenes 7-8)

  * Opens with Barbara not coming down like usual and Morgana getting worried about her.After some debate, Morgana eventually ventures upstairs to find her.
  * Barbara is upset because she lost a patient at the hospital and thus didn’t have the energy to come downstairs to Morgana.
  * Morgana comforts her.She tells Barbara she’s a good doctor because she’s helped her.She lets Barbara examine her left hand.
  * End on reveal that Morgana needs a new prosthetic.



* * *

Chapter 5 (Scenes 9-10)

  * Morgana’s first trip out of the house is to an appointment toward getting her a new prosthetic hand.She’s edgy as she feels defenseless without magic while also being out in the open.
  * At the doctor’s office, Morgana struggles to answer medical history questions, so Barbara helps bridge the gap between her and the doctor.
  * The doctor brings up physical therapy, but Morgana doesn’t want to feel vulnerable around yet another person so she refuses the idea and lashes out until Barbara agrees into looking into helping her with that part herself.



* * *

Chapter 6 (Scenes 11-12)

  * Barbara helps Morgana with her physical therapy exercises.She’s brought Jim’s old console and some games to the basement for Morgana to use in the hopes it will encourage her to move her hand more. 
  * Barbara and Morgana play Go Go Sushi together.
  * Barbara goes upstairs to get them lunch and encourages Morgana to come with her.This time, Morgana does go upstairs willingly.



* * *

Chapter 7 (Scenes 13-14)

  * Morgana begins to express curiosity about the world.At least she’s open to coming up out of the basement on her own more and more.
  * She and Barbara play Scrabble upstairs, but are interrupted by girl scouts selling cookies.Morgana talks to them, and then immediately boasts to Barbara that she talked to someone who wasn’t Barbara.
  * End scene is Barbara taking Morgana to a store like Walmart and showing her how to race carts (this happens is the middle of the night).They have a lot of fun.



* * *

Chapter 8 (Scenes 15-16)

  * Barbara takes Morgana to a boutique run by a friend, Claudia, who agrees to stay open late one night for them.Morgana tries on a lot of clothes (to find a new, modern style) and enjoys showing off for Barbara.
  * Morgana, after urging from Barbara, makes friends with Claudia and they agree to get coffee some time in the future together.
  * Then, Barbara and Morgana go for hot chocolate at a nearby chocolatier's to celebrate Morgana’s accomplishments.



* * *

Chapter 9 (Scene 17)

  * Strickler comes to visit Barbara because he hasn’t heard from her in a while.He sees and recognizes Morgana, and then attacks her.
  * Barbara tries to convince Strickler that she knows who Morgana is.
  * Strickler reveals that Morgana offered to bend Barbara’s will during the Claire possession sequence.This freaks out Barbara and almost turns her against Morgana.
  * Morgana has to come clean and apologize to Barbara, which she does because she doesn’t want to lose her.This makes Strickler realize Morgana may actually be changing, so he relaxes.
  * Chapter ends with Morgana revealing herself to Toby, Nana, Arrrgh!!!, and Dictatious.



* * *

Chapter 10 (Scenes 18-19)

  * Picks up immediately after the last chapter, where Morgana revealed herself.She has to explain herself to them, especially to Toby.They discuss her.
  * Arrrgh!!! is the most willing to give Morgana a second chance.
  * Toby doesn’t begin to trust Morgana until they play Go Go Sushi together and bond over that.
  * Ultimately Morgana is given a chance to prove herself to them.



* * *

Chapter 11 (Scenes 20-21)

  * With encouragement from Barbara, Morgana goes out with Toby and the others for a day.
  * Overall, it’s a good day.Toby warms up to Morgana (after still being distrusting of her at first) after seeing her try to figure out a good gift for Barbara.
  * They bond during a trip to the video game store too.



* * *

Chapter 12 (Scenes 22-23)

  * Filler chapter
  * Morgana spends a fun day at home with Barbara.
  * They watch a movie and enjoy each other’s company?



* * *

Chapter 13 (Scenes 24-25)

  * Morgana’s been making good progress, but now the others have decided it’s time for her to reveal herself in a big way.
  * They try to convince her to video call the group going to New Jersey.Morgana doesn’t want to at first, but finally agrees.
  * Morgana reveals herself in a video call to Jim, Claire, and Blinky



* * *

Chapter 14 (Scenes 26-27):

  * The New Jersey video call.Morgana apologizes to Claire. Claire is extremely angry over everything.
  * After the call, Morgana is uncertain redeeming herself is a good idea since Claire is still angry with her and still hates her (also there's zero forgiveness there). After gaining Toby and the others' faith with little incident, Morgana expected the entire apologizing/forgiveness process to go like that (she says sorry --> gets forgiveness). She doesn't know how to handle not getting the forgiveness part.
  * Barbara reassures Morgana that this is still the right path for her.



* * *

Chapter 15 (Scenes 28-29)

  * Since Morgana is being mopey after the video call with the New Jersey group, Barbara decides to take Morgana out to a fair to have some fun (and realize that humanity as a whole, is worth something too).
  * Barbara introduces Morgana to fun things such as funnel cake and carnival games.Morgana is determined to win a game, but doesn’t, which disheartens her further.
  * Barbara, still determined to get Morgana feeling better, takes her on the rides (which works much better).Morgana loves the adrenaline rush and the thrill.
  * Things go well until they get stuck at the top of the ferris wheel together.
  * *Morgana realizes she might feel something “more” (love) towards Barbara.She doesn’t understand it, but she likes it.



* * *

Chapter 16 (Scenes 30-31)

  * Morgana is utterly confused by her newfound feelings for Barbara.
  * She avoids Barbara, which is hard to do since Barbara is around the house that day.So, naturally, Morgana sneaks outside on her own without telling Barbara.
  * She wanders until she comes across the boutique she went to with Barbara earlier in the story and spends some time inside.Eventually, she and Claudia get to talking and Morgana admits what’s going on with her.
  * Claudia convinces Morgana that she and Barbara would make a cute couple and encourages Morgana to open up to Barbara about her feelings.
  * Morgana takes her advice to heart and decides to open up to Barbara when she gets back home.
  * However, when she arrives, she finds Barbara and Strickler standing on the house’s doorstep together and assumes that they’re together because Strickler hugs Barbara.
  * (they’ve actually been out looking for her and Strickler has just driven Barbara home – the hug is for comfort because they didn’t find Morgana).
  * Morgana flees into the night, convinced herself her feelings shouldn’t matter/were stupid to begin with.What’s the point of any of this if she can’t get what she wants out of it?
  * Morgana runs back into Claudia, who consoles her and offers to take her out for drinks to make her feel better.
  * Morgana gets extremely drunk and ends up passing out.



* * *

I didn't actually get to the point of organizing these last events into chapters, but they're as follows:

  * Morgana wakes up in Claudia's apartment, with a massive hangover. She finds she has numerous missed messages from Barbara, and, after debating it, tries to call her back. She hears a phone go off somewhere in the apartment, but thinks nothing of it until it rings each time she tries to call Barbara.
  * Eventually Morgana goes to investigate, and finds Barbara's phone in the apartment, which she thinks is odd.
  * Claudia approaches Morgana and says she has a surprise.



*Reveal that Claudia is a changeling, has always known who Morgana is, purposefully manipulated events to cause Morgana's resolve to shaken and for her to run, and positioned herself perfectly to offer 'support'. Then Claudia used Morgana's phone the night before to contact Barbara (while pretending to be Morgana), so she could kidnap Barbara (who's being kept in the basement). Claudia reveals all this to Morgana and tells her she knows of a ritual they can do that will return all Morgana's magic to her and bind Barbara to her like Angor Rot once was (could there be a more fitting fate for the Trollhunter's Mother?). Morgana can have everything she desires. Sure, redemption would be definitely off the table, but she wasn't going to gain anyone's forgiveness in the long run anyway.

Morgana chooses trying to defeat Claudia (by now, she's learned that, even if she goes through with this plan, she won't actually get what she wants). She ends up killing Claudia and freeing Barbara (altho she assumes Barbara hates her now).

Barbara reveals that this is why she gave Morgana a chance in the first place. If they killed her or locked her away, Morgana's followers could potentially resurrect or free her. The only way to truly remove the threat of Morgana, she thought, was to make her choose to stop being the person she was. (Barbara didn't foresee the exact situation with Claudia, but she figured something at some point would probably happen).


End file.
